Self-loading scraper



P 16,1959 R. J. BERNOTAS ET AL 3,466,765

SELF-LOADING SCRAPER Filed Jan. 17, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P 16, 1969 R.J. BERNOTAS E AL 3,466,765

SELF-LOADING SCRAPER 2 She et s-Sheet ,2

Filed Jan. 17. 1968 INV ENTORS.

ATTORN FY United States Patent Ofiice 3,466,765 Patented Sept. 16, 1969US. Cl. 37-8 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A self-loading scraperhaving a bowl supporting an elevator device and an ejector that isadapted to push material out of the front of the bowl. The bowl ischaracterized by having a floor divided into two sections with onesection serving as a movable floor extension, the front end of whichrigidly supports a transverse cutting blade adjacent to the lower end ofthe elevator device. Means are provided for Supporting the elevatordevice and the floor extension section in the bowl and for moving theelevator device to a position above the bowl while moving the floorextension section forwardly so as to permit the ejector to discharge theload out of the front of the bowl.

Elevating scrapers have become increasingly popular for earth-movingoperations because of their capability to quickly load an increasedamount of material into the bowl without the aid of pusher tractors. Asa consequence, a trend toward increased bowl sizes is developing forscrapers of this type necessitating new techniques for ejecting thematerial out of the bowl inasmuch as, in most cases, the retention ofthe present methods would involve the use of unacceptably larger andcomplex ejection systems particularly where the material is to bedischarged out of the front of the bowl. One method proposed to solvethis problem has been to design the bowl so it has two separate floorsections for supporting the material with the forward section beingmovable forwardly to drop the load whereafter the usual form of materialejection is utilized for removing the remainder of the material from therear section of the bowl.

This invention concerns a scraper of the abovedescribed type and moreparticularly an improved mechanism for raising the elevator device to anover-the-bowl position and simultaneously moving the forward floorsection forwardly for dumping the load therefrom. The improved mechanismincludes a support arm, one end of which is mounted on the bowl forrotation, while the other end is pivotally connected to the frontsection. The intermediate portion of the arm carries the elevator deviceand a control link is provided that guides movement of the front sectionas it is moved from a flat horizontal position to a substantiallyvertical position. During such movement, the material drops rearwardlybetween the floor sections to be then engaged by the striker attachedforwardly of the rear floor section. The material remaining in the bowlcan then be ejected out of the front of the bowl since the elevator isin a non-interfering location for such material discharge.

Accordingly, the objects of the present invention are to provide aself-loading scraper having a floor divided into two sections, the frontsection of which can be moved to a forward position to permit theejector to eject material out of the mouth of the bowl; to provide anelevating scraper having an elevator support mechanism that supports afloor extension which is movable to drop the load therefrom in responseto movement of the elevator device; to provide an elevating scraperhaving a support arm that carries the elevator device and is connectedto a bowl floor extension which is movable from a flat horizontalposition to a substantially vertical position during the unloading cycleof the scraper; and to provide a self-loading elevating scraper having amechanism for raising the elevator device to an over the bowl positionWhile moving a portion of the bowl floor forwardly for dumping thematerial therefrom.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent from the following detailed description when taken with thedrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation view showing a self-loading scraper having abowl incorporating an elevator support mechanism made in accordance withthe invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of the scraper bowl in FIGURE 1 and showsthe various components thereof in the positions assumed during a diggingoperation;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, but shows the various parts ofthe scraper bowl located in a position during an ejection operation;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the bowl shown in FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view showing the details of theelevator support mechanism shown in FIGURE 4, and

FIGURE 6 is a view taken on line 6-6 of FIGURE 4.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly FIG- URE 1 thereof, aself-loading scraper is shown comprising an overhung tractor 10connected to a trailing bowl 12 by means of the usual gooseneck 14 thatextends rearwardly for rigid connection with a transverse torque tube16. As seen in FIGURE 4, the opposite ends of the torque tube 16 arerigidly attached to rearwardly extending pull arms 18 and 20, the freeends of which are connected to the bowl 12 by universal connections 22and 24.

The material retaining portion of the bowl 12 consists of laterallyspaced side walls 26 and 28 between which an ejector 30 is hinged forrotation about a transverse horizontal axis passing through the pivotconnection 31. The ejector 30 is L-shaped and consists of a floorportion 32 and an integrally formed back portion 34 for supporting thematerial loaded into the bowl during a digging operation. Suitableejector operating mechanism (not shown) is adapted to move the ejector30 from the position illustrated in FIGURE 2, which is the loadretaining position, to the position shown in FIGURE 3 which constitutesthe ejection position. It will be noted that immediately ahead of theejector 30 is a transversely extending cutting or striker blade 36 whichserves to engage the material being discharged during the ejectionoperation and provides proper grading thereof.

The scraper, as described up to this point, is conventional inconstruction and of a type found to be successful when operating invarious materials. As alluded to hereinbefore, however, the need forquick loading of scrapers without requiring use of pusher tractors hasgiven rise to an increased use of elevating devices for facilitatingmovement of material into the bowl. To this end, the scraper employs aconveyor or elevator device 38 consisting of an endless chain 40entrained about vertically spaced gear type wheels 42 and 44 rotatablymounted on the opposite ends of a frame 46. As is usually the case, oneof the wheels is driven through suitable means such as a hydraulic motorand idler wheels 48 serve to support the chain 40 as it travels aboutthe wheels. Moreover, the chain 40 has a plurality of transverselyextending slats 50 which serve to propel material into the bowl during ascraper digging operation.

Inasmuch as the elevator device 38 serves to decrease the loading cycleof the scraper and also permits an increased amount of materials to beloaded in the bowl, the latter can be extended in length so as toaccommodate the additional payload. However, as should be apparent, oncethis is done, a frontward ejection of the material becomes a problem.One solution to this problem is utilizing the elevator support mechanismmade in accordance with the invention which includes a pair of laterallyspaced L- shaped support arms 54 as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. The rearend of each support arm 54 is pivotally mounted to the side of the bowlby a pivot connection 55 and adapted to be rotated thereabout by ahydraulic cylinder 56. The lower end of each support arm 54 is pivotallyconnected by a pivotal connection 57 to a floor extension 58 locatedbetween the side walls 26 and 28 and extending rearwardly for engagementwith the cutting blade 36. At the bend in the support arm 54, theelevator device 38 is supported by means 60 which provide a semi-rigidtype mounting that allows some floating action to permit the elevatingdevice to ride over objects too large to pass through the opening andabsorb the normal shocks experienced during a loading operation. Themechanism 52 also includes a pair of laterally spaced control links 62,each of which has the upper end thereof pivotally mounted to theassociated side wall by a pivot connection 64 while the lower end ofeach link is connected to an intermediate portion of the floor extension58 by a pivot connection 66. Thus, it will be observed that the floorextension 58 serves as a continuation of the floor portion 32 of theejector 30 and thereby enlarges the size and capacity of the bowl. Also,the floor extension 58- has the forward end thereof provided with acutting blade 68 which serves as the primary cutting element.

During a digging operation, the various parts of the conveyor supportmechanism 52 including the floor extension 58 will assume the positionsillustrated in FIGURE 2. As the bowl 12 is lowered into the groundthrough a suitable bowl control mechanism such as indicated by thenumeral 70, the blade 68 penetrates the material and due to the forwardmovement of the scraper is forced into the bowl 12. During such time,the elevator device 38 can be driven so as to help propel the materialinto the bowl 12 and facilitate loading thereof.

After the bowl 12 is loaded, the material therein is transported to anunloading area. In order to discharge the load in the bowl 12, thescraper operator will first actuate the hydraulic cylinders 56 causingthe support arm 54 to rotate clockwise as viewed in the drawings aboutthe pivotal connection 55. As a result, the elevator device 38 is raisedto an over-the-bowl position as shown in FIGURE 3 and at the same timethe floor extension 58 is moved forwardly in an arc to be substantiallyvertically orientated as seen in FIGURE 3. This action permits materiallocated on the floor extension 58 to be dropped rearwardly from thebottom of the bowl 12 for subsequent engagement by the striker blade 36.Thereafter, the ejector 30 may be moved to the raised position of FIGURE3 causing the remainder of the material in the bowl 12 to be dischargedbetween the floor extension 58 and the striker blade 36. Once thematerial is removed from the bowl 12, the ejector 30 is brought to itsnormal position and the elevator device 38 and floor extension 58- arereturned to their positions of FIGURE 2 preparatory to another diggingoperation.

,Various' changes and modifications can be made in this constructionwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. Such changes andmodifications are contemplated by the inventors and they do not wish tobe limited except by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim;

1. In a self-loading scraper having a bowl open at its front andincluding a pair of laterally spaced side walls,

an elevator device located in said bowl, an ejector located between theside walls and adapted to push material out of the front of the bowl, afirst transverse cutting blade located forwardly of the ejector andextending between the side walls, a movable floor extension locatedbetween the side walls and having the rear thereof normally locatedadjacent to said cutting blade, the front end of the floor extensionrigidly supporting a second transverse cutting blade adjacent to thelower end of the elevator device, means supporting the elevator deviceand the floor extension in said bowl and adapted to move the elevatordevice to a position above the bowl while moving the floor extensionforwardly of the first cutting blade so as to permit ejection of thematerial from the bowl, said means including an arm having one endthereof pivotally connected to the bowl about a first transverse axisand the other end pivotally connected to a forward portion of the floorextension about a second transverse axis, an intermediate portion ofsaid arm connected to the elevator device, and a link pivotallyconnected between the bowl and a rear portion of the floor extension.

2. In a self-loading scraper having a bowl open at its front andincluding a pair of laterally spaced side walls, an elevator devicelocated in said bowl, an ejector located between the side walls andadapted to push material out of the front of the bowl, a firsttransverse cutting blade located forwardly of the ejector and extendingbetween the side walls, a movable floor extension located between theside walls and having the rear thereof normally located adjacent to saidcutting blade, the front end of the floor extension rigidly supporting asecond transverse cutting blade adjacent to the lower end of theelevator device, means supporting the elevator device and the floorextension in said bowl and adapted to move the elevator device to aposition above the bowl while moving the floor extension forwardly ofthe first cutting blade so as to permit ejection of the material fromthe bowl, said means including an L-shaped support arm having one endthereof pivotally connected to the bowl about a first transverse axisand the other end pivotally connected to a forward portion of the floorextension about a second transverse axis, an intermediate portion ofsaid support arm connected to the elevator device, and a link pivotallyconnected between the bowl and a rear portion of the floor extension.

3. The scraper of claim 2 wherein said floor extension is movable from ahorizontal position to a substantially vertical position during theejection cycle of the scraper.

4. The scraper of claim 2 wherein the elevator device is mounted to saidsupport arm for floating action.

5. The scraper of claim 2 wherein said link assumes a substantiallyvertical position when said floor extension is in the normal positionand a substantially horizontal position when the floor extension ismoved forwardly.

6. The scraper of claim 2 wherein said link is substantially parallel toone leg of said support arm when the latter is in the normal positionand the raised position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,331,149 7/1967 Rapp 37-3 ROBERTE. PULFREY, Primary Examiner E. H. EICKHOLT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R. 37-426

